This invention relates to delivering information to the subscribers on a communication network, more particularly to a technique for dynamically delivering information to each active subscriber on the network without interfering with the reception and display of their selected data or program from the network.
In a typical communication network in which advertisements or other information are delivered, such as a conventional cable television network, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) and the internet, the delivery of advertisements interferes with the reception and/or display of subscribers' selected program or data.
In a conventional cable television network and a conventional on-demand video distribution system, the messages are incorporated into the transmission data stream representing the program selected by the subscriber. That is, the transmission and/or display of the selected program is interrupted for commercial breaks.
In the internet, the information is downloaded ("pushed") on to the subscriber's terminal such that the display of the pushed information interferes with the display of the subscriber's selected data. That is, the pushed information is placed on top of the data (e.g., frames or page of data from a web site) that is being currently displayed on the subscriber's terminal.
However, it is desirable to continuously display "pushed" information, messages or advertisements simultaneously with the subscriber's selected data or program wherein they do not interfere with each other and are simultaneously viewable by the subscriber.
Also, in a typical communication network, the information such as advertisements are delivered to many subscribers indiscriminately. This is disadvantageous for the subscribers because some subscribers are subjected to advertisements in which they have no interest. It is also disadvantageous to the advertisers because the advertisers must pay to deliver the advertisement to a large audience of subscribers including the subscribers they desire to reach and the subscribers who have no interest in their advertisement.
It is desirable to target information, such as messages, announcements, advertisements, etc., to subscribers who are more likely to be interested in such information and deliver that information to only those selected subscribers.
Techniques have been proposed heretofore for selective distribution of messages over communication networks, such as a conventional cable television network and a conventional on-demand video distribution system. In a conventional cable television network, an addressable controller communicates with a plurality of subscriber converters on the network. Each converter, i.e., set-top converter box, is assigned as a member of a primary message group and may also be assigned to one or more message subgroups. The messages are input to the addressable controller for subsequent transmission to a converter for display on a television receiver connected to that converter. The head end tags the text messages with distribution data defining at least one primary message group or message subgroup to receive the message. Various primary groups are used to segregate converters based on geographical area or distribution hub, and subgroups are used to segregate subscribers into groups of particular interest. The tagged text messages are transmitted over the conventional cable television network together with broadcast signals from network service providers on separate paths or channels. A particular converter determines whether it is authorized to receive the tagged text message. If it is determined that this particular converter is authorized to receive the tagged text message, the converter either immediately displays the tagged text message by blocking the display of the broadcast signals on the selected (tuned) channel or overlays alphanumeric characters and/or graphics on top of the program being displayed on the subscriber's television receiver.
In a conventional on-demand video distribution system, a technique has been proposed in which commercial messages to be distributed over the network contain embedded information identifying categories of recipients for each message. A server, centrally located on the network, selectively tags commercial messages with the converter addresses of subscribers, satisfying the identifying categories. The commercial messages are inserted into the video signal associated with the video program selected by a particular addressed converter (subscriber) and transmitted over the network for receipt and display by a television receiver connected to that addressed converter. The addressed converters receive and display the commercials on their corresponding television receiver during scheduled commercial breaks in the program. The addresses are selected by the server based on information stored in a database related to demographic and other information relating to the household of the subscriber in comparison to the same information relating to households which are actual customers of the product or service which is a subject of the commercial.
However, it is desirable to continuously display the text messages or commercials along with the program on the subscriber's television receiver. The present invention proceeds upon the desirability of continuously displaying the messages simultaneously with the broadcast program in which the broadcast program and the messages do not interfere with each other and are simultaneously viewable by the subscriber.
Also, it is desirable to update the demographic information based on viewing habits, purchasing behavior and the like because the demographic information may become stale over time.
A customized information file is dynamically generated for each active subscribers on the network in accordance with the corresponding subscriber profile data stored in a database. Each customized information file containing a plurality of addresses of the information, e.g., messages, announcements, advertisements, etc., are sent to the corresponding subscriber.
Each active subscriber terminal sequentially displays the information located in the addresses found in its customized information list.